1.

Gather materials
The information you’ll need to complete your applications
Filling out your application takes time.
And if you have to keep interrupting your progress to find
information, like a certificate for a continuing education course or
the address of your last internship, it can take even longer. Get a
head start by collecting this information before you begin.
A copy of your high school transcript
In the Education section you will enter your high school grades and
current courses. Some colleges also need you to self report your
high school transcript. You can check out your Courses & Grades
section to learn more.
A list of your activities, work, and family responsibilities
You can share your interests and who you are outside of the
classroom in the activities section. You can share information about
things like work, hobbies, clubs, and community engagement. This
is the place to show colleges what makes you unique!
Test scores and dates from your college entrance exams
(SATs, ACTs, etc.)
You may self-report scores for any standardized tests in the Testing
section. Every college has different testing requirements. Some
colleges will always need your test scores. Other colleges may be
flexible or have a test optional policy. Be sure to check the Testing
policy of the colleges on your list.
Parent/Legal guardian information
Academic honors and achievements

2.
Create an account
Get started at any time
Creating a first year Common App
account is easy and should only take a
few minutes.
• Choose your registration type.
• If you are applying to college for the first time you'll select the
"First Year Student" button.
• Provide your login credentials.
◦ Make sure you use an email address you check often.
This is the email the Common App and colleges will use
to get in touch with you.
• Complete your registration information.
◦ We will need some basic information about you like your
name, home address, phone number, and date of birth.
◦ Be sure to use your legal name as it appears on official
school documents and standardized tests. This will make
sure colleges can match documents to the correct
person.
◦ At the end, you will adjust your communication
preferences and accept the Common App privacy policy.
• Select "Create Account" to complete your account.
Congratulations on taking this first step in the college application
journey!
COUNSELOR TIP

Use an email address that you check regularly.

3.
Add colleges
Start building your My Colleges list
Once you’ve created your account and
explored the colleges that accept the
Common App, you're ready to start
adding colleges.
The College Search tab is where you will search for and add the
colleges you want to apply to. If you have a school in mind you can
search by name. If you want to keep exploring, you can use the
more filters button. Some filters include:
• State or country
• Distance from a zip code
• Enrollment term
• Application deadline
• Application fees*
• Writing requirements
• Standardized testing policy
• Recommendation requirement
Adding a college is easy! You may add a college using the add
button in the search results list. You can also select a college and
add them using the "Add to My Colleges" button from their info
screen.
Once you've added colleges, you can see them on your Dashboard
and in your My Colleges tab. Keep in mind you may only add up to
20 colleges. You may adjust your list of colleges at any time.
* While some colleges may charge an application fee, others have
no fee to apply. And, many will offer fee waivers under certain
circumstances, including financial need, veterans status, and more.
Fee Waiver
A request to the college to remove the application fee. Using either the
Common App fee waiver, which your counselor must confirm, or a college-
specific fee waiver, you will not be required to pay the fee to submit your
application.
Coed
Coed is a term used to describe a college or university that offers the
integrated education of male and female students in same environment.
4.
Engage supporters
Collaborate with counselors, teachers, and more
All colleges need things like official
school forms. Many colleges will also ask
for letters of recommendation.
Counselors, teachers, and recommenders will submit these kinds of
forms on your behalf. Here are the types of recommenders you can
invite in the Common App.
Counselors
Counselors share their perspective using the context of the entire
graduating class. They also submit the School Report and
transcripts.
Parents
Teachers
Other Recommenders
Advisors
Every college gets to choose their own
recommendation requirements. You can
find more details on each college's
"College Information" page.
Inviting and Assigning Recommenders
1. From the My Colleges tab select a college and open their
"Recommenders and FERPA" section.
2. If you have not done so already, you will need to complete
the FERPA Release Authorization.
3. Invite recommenders using the invite button from each section.
You may also use the "Invite Recommenders" button at the
top.
 4. Select the type of invitation you would like to send. For each
invitation you will need information like their name and email
address.
5. After you add a recommender, you can view their info using
the Manage Recommenders button.
6. Note that teachers, parents, and other recommenders will not
receive an email invitation until you assign them to a college.
To assign these recommenders, go to their section within this
screen. Select their name from the dropdown and use the
assign button.
7. If your high school uses Naviance or another partner software,
you will not invite your counselor or teachers here. There will
be instructional text on this page explaining what to do next.
You will still add other recommenders and advisors using the
steps above.
In general, each college has their own recommendation
requirements. For example, one college may need two teacher
recommendations. Some colleges may not want any teacher
recommendations. Colleges can also determine what kinds of other
recommenders they want. Some may allow for any recommender
type, whereas others only allow an employer recommendation.

5.
Understanding requirements
Keep track of each college’s unique application
requirements
It's important to stay organized as you
work on your applications.
Each college needs you to complete common questions and add
counselor. Beyond that their applications vary. Each college can
determine their unique requirements for:
• Deadlines
• Application Fees
• Personal Essay
 • Courses & Grades
• Test Policy
• Portfolio
• Writing Supplements
• Recommendations
Here are some places where you can find each college's specific
requirements:
Explore Colleges
My Colleges
Requirements Grid
Writing Requirements by College
ACCOUNT ROLLOVER
Did you know: Common App accounts can roll over from year to
year?
Account Rollover is a great tool to explore the Common App, save
answers to questions in the Common App tab of your account, and
house ideas for your essay.

6.
Plan essays
Organize and plan for your writing prompts
Sometimes writings essays can feel like
the biggest part of your application. With
a little bit of planning, organizing, and
drafting, we can help you make this task
more manageable.
As you work on your applications you can find essays or short
answer questions in three sections:
Common App Personal Essay
Colleges can either make the personal essay optional or required.
In the writing section of your Common App tab, you will see a table
that lists each college's requirements.
College-specific questions
Many colleges include short answer questions or essay prompts
within this section. You can find specific information about each
college's individual writing prompts here.
Writing supplements
Some colleges use a separate writing supplement. Not all colleges
have a writing supplement. Some colleges only request this
supplement based on how you answer other questions. You can
find more information about writing supplements on the Dashboard
or your My Colleges tab.